Developing and emerging countries are most impacted by current issues, and the international community should collaborate to utilize innovative financing tools to advance development efforts.
The Minister of International Cooperation H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat explained that current global crises, particularly post the COVID-19 pandemic, created a sense of uncertainty, particularly in developing and emerging countries that are recovering from the pandemic and aiming for a green transition.
These remarks came during the Minister’s participation in the Economic Research Forum’s (ERF) 28th Annual Conference in a Session on “Macroeconomic Management in Times of Crisis”. The event was moderated by Samir Makdisi, the Chairman at the ERF’s Board of Trustees, and included the ERF Managing Director Ibrahim ElBadawi; Senior Vice President and World Bank Group Chief Economist Carmen Reinhart; the Chairman of the International Advisory Committee of KAPSARC & ERF Majid Al-Moneef; and an Associate Professor of Economics, at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Raimundo Soto, alongside Al-Mashat.
Al-Mashat explained that while the world is working to strengthen multilateral cooperation and to mobilize international efforts so as to recover from the pandemic and accelerate progress towards a green transition, the challenges with food, commodity and energy prices, as a result of war and conflict, has posed a challenge for developing and emerging countries.
The Minister also elaborated that while the COVID-19 pandemic had global socioeconomic impacts, it also paved the way for digital transformations around the world. Al-Mashat added that efforts to achieve the SDGs, and global agenda, has become impacted by global economic changes, and therefore, in addition to financial and monetary policies, it is necessary for the international community to utilize blended and innovative financing tools and to enhance public-private partnerships.
Al-Mashat stated that innovative financing tools can represent an incentive to continued development efforts, and to preserve the development that was already made in previous years. The Minister added that multilateral cooperation is much-needed to move towards a green and sustainable recovery, alongside opening-up prospects for private sector participation, and enhancing the role of the civil society, youth and women.